This invention relates to firearms safety and more particularly to a trigger blocking device which is intended to be a child safety aid. The device covers the trigger guard area of a gun with two smooth half-shells that are matingly engageable and held together by at least one permanent magnet with adjustable magnetic force such that they are not separable by children.
Trigger locks are well known in the art. For example, it is known to use two half-shells which fixedly lock together with a key lock mechanism to form a trigger lock. However, the drawback of this arrangement is the time consuming reliance on a key which has to be located and inserted before the gun can be fired. It is also known to use latching or snap-together half-shells which will prevent accidental firing stemming from dropping the gun or other movement, but which are easily removable by anyone, including a child. It is also known to use a pseudo-key wherein two half-shells appear to lock via a key lock with a tumbler; however, in actuality the half shells are releasable from a locked position by pushing in the pseudo-key. The drawback of this arrangement is that once a child observes the operation of this device, the child will not be misled by the appearance of the pseudo-key in the future. It is also know to use electronic keypads with access codes that electronically control the release of a trigger lock. The drawbacks associated with such an arrangement are a reliance on a battery, and the time consuming process of entering a code on a key pad. It is also known to use electronic voice activated release of a trigger lock. The drawbacks of this arrangement are reliance on a battery, overall complexity of the device, and having to make a significant sound to release the gun. This sound could alert the target to the presence of the gun user.